you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine you don't take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat may occur and may be fatal. intermezzo should not be taken if you have taken another sleep medicine at bedtime or in the middle of the night or drank alcohol that day. do not drive or operate machinery until at least 4 hours after taking intermezzo and you're fully awake. driving, eating, or engaging in other activities while not fully awake without remembering the event the next day have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. alcohol or taking other medicines that make you sleepy may increase these risks. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. intermezzo, like most sleep medicines,

has some risk of dependency. common side effects are headache, nausea, and fatigue. so if you suffer from middle-of-the-night insomnia, ask your doctor about intermezzo and return to sleep again. ♪ she can't always move the way she wants. now you can. with stayfree ultra thins. flexible layers move with your body while thermocontrol wicks moisture away. keep moving. stayfree. two things. the old school mr. smith style talking filibuster, ron paul at 7:55 a.m., talking about drones, that is still going on in the senate. i believe that is baroso, and if i identified him right, i deserve a medal. i have to bring you another story tomorrow, which is my bad.

i got carried away. to bring you that story tomorrow. "first look" is up next. good thursday morning. right now on fng if you can a invitation only 12 republican senators we'll tell you what they talked about. kentucky's rand paul speaks for 13 hours to block the president's drones. flight attendants fight back over the new tsa rules allowing knives. jurors have more than 150 questions for murder defendant jo jodi areas. good morning. well, guess who's coming to dinner, it was a first supper of sort last night at the nation's capital. president obama was joined by a dozen gop senators for a private dinner at the jefferson hotel

near the white house. linds lindsey graham and kelly ayotte took the president up on his offer. other republicans gave the thumbs up and said, they had a good exchange of ideas. no word on the tab. but the white house said that the white house picked up the check. we talked about having to establish a process to move forward and i got the sense that president obama's planning on probably doing something with a similar gathering with some dem senators. he seemed very sincere to get engaged in the process. trasie potts has more. >> reporter: part of that process that he was talking about is really setting a different atmosphere and a different tone for compromise. first of all, to let these

republicans know that the president is willing to compromise and number two, to talk about some of these key issues not just the budget and of course the budget and the cuts from sequestration are a big part of where these differences lie. things like immigration and gun control and to sort of bring down the temperature between the two sides. now on the same day that was happening on capitol hill, republicans on the house side passed their own budget. this is the budget they're trying to prevent a government shutdown attend of the month. democrats not happy with this budget at all. they say it's too harsh on medicare and other programs that will hurt the middle class. that bublgt passed with the support of 53 democrats and republicans.

the senator rand paul didn't go without a fight, the tea party favorite went on and on for nearly 13 hours on wednesday. he said that the move was response to attorney general eric holder to rule out drone on american soil. paul said that he was not satisfied with the administration's legal reasoning. >> i can't imagine that we're going to have drone strikes on people while they're asleep in their home or whether they're out eating in a cafe or eating in a restaurant. i can't imagine that's the standard that we're going to use, maybe it's a misunderstanding. >> brennan's nomination won prufl tuesday on a is 12-3 vote. a full senate vote could come as early as today. a bill that would strengthen laws against gun trafficking seems to be gaining steam in congress.

a piece of legislation that would make it a federal crime for a person barred from owning a gun to purchase a firearm. sellers with a quote reasonable cause to believe would be used in a criminal act would be punished. talks aimed at requiring more background checks earlier this week. the chain in policy to allow knives on airplanes, tsa said that it's starting april 25th passengers can carry short, folding knives on to flight. federal air marshals are also blasting the decision. relatives of some of the 9/11 victims want the policy ruled back. one called it a dreadful mistake to loosen the rule. turning now to syria

peacekeepers are being held today by opposition forces in that country. video purports to show captured. it were to be part of a force to monitor the cease-fire between syrian troops. now, here "first look" at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. as the budget battle goes on and the democratic national committee has posted a local videos. referring to it as the gop sequester. >> sequestration could cause virginia beach to lose more than 5100 jobs. most of those department of defense related. >> they planned to hire 500 new workers back in january but held off because of these looming

cuts. former vice president al gore is being sued in san francisco federal court over the sale of his network. tv consultant said that he came up with the idea of selling al jazeera but that he was cut of the deal. the new biography roger ailes has some juicy comments of fox news. and he said of newt gingrich, newt's a blank. every home owner in nelson, georgia could be require that every household have a firearm. the town has 254 households. it could become law at the next council meeting. and tough talk long island

congressman peter king is about to fight. he's going to box the kickboxing champ irish joe foley at a pub on friday. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. portions of the northeast hit hard by superstorm are bracing for coastal flooding as a late winter storm continues to march east. in new jersey, incredible video shows the storm's powerful wind gust making land fall. now for a look at the national weather, we have nbc meteorologist bill karins. you had quite a reaction to the peter king's story. >> he can't box that guy. >> why not? >> it would be ugly. oh, well. lots to explain and lot to

recap. north and west of d.c., you got nailed. if you were in d.c., inside the beltway, it was a rainy, wet, cold, miserable day and you didn't get the snow that you were promised. baltimore didn't get much either. i-95 east, nothing, had to be out north and west. it still was a big storm, it's continuing to cink this morning. we're okay on the jersey shore, but the most concerns with the high winds and the surf up here in the boston area, this is where we are seeing some bands of snow. the wind gusts right now between 30 miles per hour and 40 miles per hour. temperatures in massachusetts are below freezing. above freezing in rhode island. most of this happening at the end of today, in worcester, 4 to

8. little less for hartford and new york city. grassy surfaces could pick up 1 to 3 inches of snow. they'll continue to do that especially out on the cape. >> all right, thanks so much, bill. coming up -- the latest details on a young woman mauled by a lion. an identity thief gets caught in the act. plus, many murder trial of jodi aree yas gets even more bizarre with jurors asking her questions. back in three. [ birds chirping ]

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welcome back. some stories making news this morning -- venezuela is preparing for the state funeral of former president hugo chavez. 24-year-old female intern diana hanson was killed by a lion at a california animal sanctuary after entering the

enclosure. 44-year-old was arrested at a three-day man hunt after a deadly hit and run. police said that he was behind the wheel when he slammed into a cab killing a new couple and their newborn. the state of defense are done. but the jurors have questions for jodi arias. she spent more than two weeks on the stand, discussing the murder of her ex. arizona is one of three states that allows jurors to pose questions to witnesses. former arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords is calling on congress to take action. >> be bold. be courages you. please support background checks. >> and floridians might want to take cover.

mega mosquitos could be around in the summer. from super mosquitos to what the cdc says is a nightmare superbug in nation's hospitals. it has a fatality rate of about # 50%. the outbreaks have occurred in 42 states. they have been contained to hospitals and nursing homes. turning now to business. facebook users can expect more changes ahead. as facebook expects to announce a redesign of their news feed. we'll see how time warner stock does today after news

they'll spin off time magazine. carl icahn has taken 50% stake in the struggling dell. madison avenue appearing to be warming up to the idea of same-sex marriage. like amazon's paperweight pad. the company that managed the skywalk at the grand canyon has filed for bankruptcy. not to worry the skywalk will remain open. taco bell fans, the fast food chain announced that it would release its new cool ranch shells a day early. after making a run to the border, fans locked in to the facebook page complaining that their local restaurants didn't

have them. michael vick gets a new dog. the sharks are swarming off of our coast. and blake griffin wows them with a super dunk. you're watching "first look" on abc. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. in the middle of the night it can be frustrating. it's hard to turn off and go back to sleep.

intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine you don't take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat may occur and may be fatal. intermezzo should not be taken if you have taken another sleep medicine at bedtime or in the middle of the night or drank alcohol that day. do not drive or operate machinery until at least 4 hours after taking intermezzo and you're fully awake. driving, eating, or engaging in other activities while not fully awake without remembering the event the next day have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. alcohol or taking other medicines that make you sleepy may increase these risks.

in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. intermezzo, like most sleep medicines, has some risk of dependency. common side effects are headache, nausea, and fatigue. so if you suffer from middle-of-the-night insomnia, ask your doctor about intermezzo and return to sleep again. ♪ . turning back now to our top toir president obama's dinner with gop senators, joining me on the phone now syndicated columnist bob franken. can this help break through the

partisan impasse that we're seeing now? >> it can't hurt. the distance that has grown between the two sides, why not. >> the dinner was for a select group of republican senators. >> given the performance of the house republicans he'll probably want to find someplace that serves kiddie meals. >> turning now to senator rand paul's filibuster over drone strikes, did his almost 13-hour rant serve any practical purpose? >> well, it came him away from the bathroom as well. as a matter of fact that's why he end it. >> he's raised an interesting issue, if we had the united states government in the wrong hands would there be some sort of effort to use all of the

technology available against citizens? it's interesting. >> bob franken, thanks so much for your insight. now, here's your "first look" at some of the other news around america. we start in connecticut with a cup of joe stopped a would-be robber. an employee tossed scalding hot coffee at the suspect. no arrests have been made. in maryland, high winds wreaked havoc on the bay bridge. the gusts barely moved. beach goers were warned to stay out of the water after thousands of sharks were found lurking near the shore. and finally, a colorado waitress experienced a jaw-dropping molt when her stolen i.d. was used by a patron

to order a drink. >> i said, sure, i'll be right back with margarita. >> the thieves' blurnder her in cuffs. turning now to sports. the unranked take center stage in college hoops. georgetown took on villanova and pinkston poured in 20 points to help beat the hoyas. this is nova's third time this season knocking off a top 25 team. miami was upset, as georgia tech tipped in a rebound at the buzzer. the yellow jackets over the hurricanes. turning now to the nba with time running out, lebron james drove the lane and scooped it in against the lakers. and check out this crawford

to griffin superdunk. the clippers have the game well in hand against the bucks. crawfo crawfords tos it up to blake griffin for the alley-oop. turning now to hockey in the nhl, a fight broke out 26 seconds between the game between toronto and mon trottawa. a fan in oklahoma city all took a half-court shot for $25,000. his aim was perfect and the big check will go to pay his wife's maryland call bills. nfl quarterback michael vick has a new dog. you'll remember that vick served more than two years in prison for his involvement in a illegal dog fighting ring. the official organization that breeds the dog said that it's

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stories leading the news this morning -- nbcnews.com, has a head line, fewer gun deaths with states with guns.

turning now to entertainment, actress valerie harper, perhaps best known as rhoda from the mary tyler moore, said that she's been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. fellow celebrities have reached out in support. mary tyler moore said that she's absolutely devastated by the news. while promoting his new movie terrence howard told reporters that "iron man" killed his career. well, little miss sunshine is all grown up. abigail breslin spoke to reporters about growing up on camera. she said that the transition has been pretty natural. a round three. check out one of the first photos for the